'Ndrangheta crime boss Palamara arrested on motorway

Underworld kingpin long-sought for international drug trade

(ANSA) Reggio Calabria, July 17 - Police arrested Thursday long-sought 'Ndrangheta crime family boss Bruno Palamara on charges of operating a vast drug smuggling ring supplying Belgium, Holland and Germany from his base in Calabria, police said.

Palamara, 51, tried to escape detection by showing a counterfeit document in a false name when stopped by flying squad and undercover officers while he was being driven by an accomplice in a car on the A3 Salerno to Calabria motorway, officers said. Palamara is considered the head of the clan of the same name operating in the towns of Africo, Bianco and Brancaleone in the province of Reggio Calabria, police sources said.